As gamblers, we all have plenty of stories to tell. Like me, I'm sure most of you can see a highlight from a game played in 1991 and remember the story behind it. "I remember this game," I will often say when seeing a highlight from some obscure game that no one remembers. "I had San Fran and the over. I needed three points with a quarter to go and no one scored."
In my line of work I'm fortunate enough to be on the radio talking sports. Some times I'll get into my gambling "past," as we like to call it around here. It's amazing how those stories grab the public's attention. But the thing is, they don't give a damn about the triumphant stories, they want to hear about the misery. That's what puts asses in the seats. They love hearing how I lost $500 on a last second Hail Mary or banked three-pointer.
And after the last two UCLA games that affected thousands of people in the final seconds and gave them yet another gambling story to tell for the rest of their lives, I got to thinking. What was my worst gambling loss ever? Of course, even though I had many to chose from, it didn't take me long to find the most gut wrenching defeat of my life. I'm sure many of you who had the game will remember the story I'm about to tell.
It was a crisp late November afternoon in the northeast. The year was 1998 and the teams were the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots. I had the Bills getting 3.5 points. Buffalo was up 21-17 with only seconds remaining, so I was just waiting to cash my winning ticket. Then the craziness started. Drew Bledsoe threw a desperation Hail Mary pass into the end zone that fell incomplete. For the first time in the history of organized football, the refs called defensive pass interference on the Bills. Truth be told, it was interference but I've seen the exact same play hundreds of times with no call.
No worries. The Patriots had a final chance for a touchdown from the 1-yard line. Play action pass, Bledsoe throws a dart to Ben Coates in the back of the end zone and New England takes the lead. Now because I'm getting 3.5 I still haven't broken a sweat. The Patriots are just going to kick the extra point and I win. Then the unthinkable happened. The Bills, so outraged that the refs called a pass interference penalty on the final play of the game, walked off the field in disgust. The Patriots still had to attempt the extra point and with no players from Buffalo on the field, they snapped the ball and walked into the end zone for a two-point conversion (which was the correct thing to do because of future tie-breaker circumstances).
I was paralyzed. I couldn't even breath. I just lost $500 because of a pass interference call on a Hail Mary, followed by a touchdown and uncontested two-point conversion. By the way, this all happened with 10 seconds remaining in the game. It was one of the only times I actually wept after a loss. To this day I can't tell the story without shaking and feeling nauseous. That was by far the worst loss of my life.
Now, since misery loves company, give me some of your worst beats of all-time because I guarantee you that any game you mention, most of us were on one side or the other.